UK
New entrants looking to break into the ultra-competitive fund management industry have a significant obstacle in their path: the notoriously difficult Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme. The professional qualification comes in three parts, takes four years to complete, and 80% of candidates fall before the final hurdle.
Moreover, as more people take the exams, CFA insiders say the pass rate is bound to fall. A total of 119,000 candidates globally turned up for the final stage three exam this year and their numbers are swelling at the rate of 25% per annum.
Given the difficulty in acquiring the accreditation, it’s unfortunate perhaps that it’s becoming increasingly mandatory. Chris Manfield, managing director and head of the asset management practice in Europe for Whitney Group, says it’s become the norm for new entrants to asset management: “For serious asset management players in the institutional space it is a must-have.”
Whether completing the CFA actually adds to your pay packet is less of a certainty. Some industry surveys have put CFA holders’ salaries 25% ahead of those of non-CFA holders. But Steve Wellard, spokesman for CFA Institute in London, says the issue remains unclear: “It’s not black and white to say that being a charterholder means you can secure more money.”
For new entrants fretting about attaining CFA status, Philip Darling, partner at Korn/Ferry International, says most fund managers will put graduates through the programme, particularly if the parent company is American.
Old debate. Old news!
Don’t you have anything else to write about Efinancial!
No. Let’s move on to the next meaningless debate now….
Some facts:
1-the CFA is not difficult, it’s all about learning by heart
2-it doesn’t take 4yrs to complete, but 3
3-still debatable whether it really adds value. I find it interesting nevertheless
Lol, I agree with bored. Don’t you have anything else to write about?
Don’t bother reading the article then “Bored”.
If you really are Bored, you may be in line for the chop soon! Perhaps you should reconsider taking the CFA.
“takes four years to complete”
Rubbish. It takes the average person who fails four years, but it actually can take less than 2 years – of which you only spend 12 months studying:
September – December 08: Level 1
March – June 09: Level 2
March – June 10: Level 3
I think it’s a bit unfair to criticise a careers website for writing an article about a qualification. If you find the whole concept boring, don’t bother reading it, let alone commenting on it, for god’s sake.
This is centuries old news as efinancial has reported on the CFA a thousand times in the past.
Call it “Journalistic crunch”? That is the lack of interested news on financial industry due to the lack of debt and the layoffs
I’ve completed CFA Level 1 and 2 – naturally I’m interested in reading about the CFA but would be interest in some new news. I’ve read about the MBA vs CFA debate on this site so many times this year…..
Efinancial – how much do you pay your researchers to come up with this utter dross? Even I can do better than them, e.g.
Homebase white emulsion on an internally facing wall. How long does it take to dry? Discuss
Point to note – according to the CFA institute there is no such thing as “a CFA”.
All those saying it does not take 4 years to complete are incorrect. Dupshar you can indeed take the exams in 18 months, but without 4 years relevant experience you won’t be getting your hands on the charter. I think in general some people need to realise exams alone in life are not the path to success.
It’s a very relevant topic for those who are currently considering their career specialisations. May not be useful to you but it is for others.
What was news in this? Sorry I am missing something here.
I have finished studying every level in the CFA in exactly 3 weeks.
CFA a “must have”!, i don’t think so, perhaps for a graduate with a non-finance background.. or for accountants that need some economics brushing up or vice-versa.. as for CFA v MBA that would depend on your ultimate goals.. Personally, it wouldn’t be a criteria I’d use to separate candidates for a job in Fund Management.
Manish,
Have you read Efinancial before? They have writted the same thing about the CFA many times this year! Is it really useful to anyone???
I am currently studying for the CFA, and I find it very relevant to my job and future prosepct. You can passed all CFA Exams in less than two years which is what I am aiming to achieve, but if you don’t have 4 years experience you will not become a CFA Charterholder. Some of the negative comments made in regards to this article are plain silly. May I ask, are any of you CFA Charterholder as to the reason why some of you completely disagreed with this article?
If not, don’t knock it, till you try it.
I think the CFA is a excellent programme as it provides substantial knowledge in the Banking and Investment Profession. I am studying for it ,and so far I am proud of my achievement.-Another qualification to add to my CV.
I have friends who have spent years upon years studying CFA exams. In keeping with the (rather boring) article, most of them pulled out because they got bored.
Bored because it does not require intelligence, rather an ability to absorb and regurgitate facts.
Ironically I am earning more than most and all I ever got was a simple old IMC qualification.
I am against the idea that you can only succeed by studying like this for years; most decent managers will see it the same way and will prefer experience and a good performance at interview.
i think the article is referring to the fact that to gain the chartership, you will need 4 yrs practical experience alongside the exams
The percentage of candidates who pass all three levels in sucession and without failing a stage is less than 5%. Therefore for most candidates it will take 4 years or more to pass the exams. You then also need to have documented and relevent work experience (up to 4 years) before you are given/allowed to use the CFA mark after your name
well there are people out there who dont live by pressing the refresh button for efinancialcareers every two minutes. For those people (i am one of those) this article was news. For the regulars… i think its time to move on… should i recommend watch-moviesonline.com?
It has become the norm to have a CFA, but it is easy to pass and does not add value. Work experience is/should be more important. Also if you can’t pass all 3 levels…well time to look into a new career path.
Stop whingeing. The new entrants to the business don’t know that it has been covered before
White is so last year. A gentle blue or lavender would be preferable. I believe this is in the Homebase range. On an average day you could safely re-coat it after a couple of hours
WOW! What a bunch of bs to those who say the CFA is SOOO EASY–hmm, makes me think you have never tried, nor have the guts or the heart to try. We live in such an entitlement society that people overlook the fact that it takes a lot to put yourself out there on the line. I have an MBA, with five years mortgage experince and coming into a new career I am attempting the CFA. Those who say we should get a new “career” for thinking the CFA is difficult are sadly insecure. You would like us to leave, because it makes more room for those of you who are too lazy to get your butts moving in the right direction. All I hope for is that the work I put into this and the time spent away from family and friends will be worth it in the end. It will take most people at least 4 years and you should be proud of yourself every step of the way.
CFA is a waste of time. From the modelling apsect of financial markets it is undergrad finance theory. The rest is blah blah blah. I wish the industry did not behave in a crowd behavior model, send your best people at a Finance, Fin Eng, MBA program at Ivy League. Stop throwing money to professional cartels.
I’ve done the CFA, and probably wouldn’t have bothered if I had my time again. By the time you’ve finished it, you’re likely to be sufficiently progressed in your career, that it’s no longer necessary.
The subject material is not that intellectually challenging, however there is a fair bit to get through, and most financial firms don’t give you more than a few days of work to study it. Which means you’ll need to set aside 3 or 4 weekends in April / May to grind through the reading … which is generally pretty dry and unexciting.
In terms of using it to break into the industry – I think it’s probably of minimal use. Relevant experience is far more likely to get you there.
You don’t need any qualifications at all. If your face fits and you are lucky enough to have a boss who supports and encourages you, then they sky is the limit. I’ve had a boss who spoke yardie pigeon english as her first and only language, she did not have a single qualification (not even a GCSE or CSE) and yet was a senior accounts manager in a central London based recruitment company (ironically that recruits for the AM an IBK industry).
Needless to say, she was a big bully who was qualified by expereience. Experience that she would not share with anyone else.
It just goes to show, that undergraduate, postgraduate and professional qualifications don’t count for much these days..
I agree with “Intheminority”, “LBSMan”, “noelpotter” and “nick”. Bottom line: If you have a degree in philosophy, arts or african literature, a CFA is useful to learn the trade. If you want to be hired by bureaucrats who lack judgement and therefore rely on a title, likewise. All else, don’t waste your time throwing money at cartels.
kudos to efinancial.i dont know if anybody in the house has heard about LIFA(licensed international financial analyst)its a rival to CFA.
Isn’t “a CFA” wrong reference to “a CFA charter” or “a CFA designation”. Obviously the author has not gone through the Ethics material.
It takes 4 years because of work experience requirements even if you pass all 3 exams in 1.5 years, which is the quickest you could (pass December, June and June exams).
I have decided to do it as my degree is engineering, though my experience is now more “financial and quantitatvie analysis” oriented. This way, when I earn the charter, I can be confident that I have the theoretical background complimented by the experience. Having said that the curriculum did help correct a lot of the bad habits and misconceptions I picked up in the past. I think it has helped me become a better analyst and in the end that is what matters.
I hear that CFA is highly valued in the middle and back office of most banks.
“I am studying for it ,and so far I am proud of my achievement.-Another qualification to add to my CV.
Rosie 14 hours ago”
Precisely the ridiculous attitude exhibited by so many people on this site, who think that a string of qualifications are your path to success. Most of the most successful people I know, myself included, have no Masters, no PhD, no CFA. Just a 3yr Bachelors degree from a world-class university. That’s all you need to enter the front office, and from there you can be a rising star without any further qualifications. Indeed, for client-facing roles you’re better off spending your evenings drinking with clients and networking than in your room studying. And even on the buy-side, look at how few of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers have a CFA. Absolutely no need, so much effort for usually barely any, if any at all, gain.
The problem with CFA is that it gives u so much in various careers that no one will ever use more than 10% of the curriculum in his/her career. Level 3 is to learn by heart instead of testing ur analytical skills, as a final level chartered financial ANALYST. since the change from AIMR to CFA Institute, it has been a profit oriented entity. CFA despite increasing ur salary,in some cases, consumes all ur time, and hinders ur career advancement in many other more practical issues. so if u decide on the CFA, u wil definitely have weak points in ur career, so after ur done, u need to spend double the time trying to make up for what u lost in the last 3 years.
I think its high over rated…What about CAIA and having an MSc to your name.
Just one quick question re the ’4 years’ experience requirement. Does it have to be in financial industry alone? I mean what if I have 10 years experience in software development (out of which 2-3 were spent wrting software for BFSI clients), would that be considered? Or does it have to be hard core investment industry related experience
CFA can give you the bricks, but not yet convinced that it gives real investment insight. Over last 3 years, I met many top buy and sell side, mix of CFA and non CFA (incl. MBAs). Conclusion: CFAs are good at completing the financial model, but the questions fielded from CFAs reflected somewhat narrow investment hypotheses, a due diligence approach or a “tick the box” view of investing.
Looking at it another way, as an investor,
- for benchmark funds, a CFA is probably necessary and sufficient,
- for anything stronger or more concentrated, a CFA is reassuring, but not strictly necessary, and certainly not sufficient.
ex-Eurostoxx 50, now PE investor
Do you know any good school teaching CFA?
I think it is in line with efinancial`s main business to report and write on the main qualification in their area of specialty than talk about other non – core issues, so if you are bored please remember not everyone is bored by the subject , so reserve your nasty comments and let serious readers get good advice from the publication.
There is no point knowing the financial garb of a CFA. You make money by having a view and getting it right. The people that waste their time nitpicking the working capital vs depreciation in 2004 go nowhere. The people who have simple views like “buy oil”, “short homebuilders” are the ones that make serious money.
shallow. very shallow. this debate is so useless.
well i think CFA charter is more useful in US,UK but in asia it is common to have.In emerging market like India, CFA Chartered holders are recruited to handle jobs like NAV calculation,Accounting,Settlement & reconsilation so it is mandatory in asian markets for such roles.Payscale difference: no difference.Still it equip candidates with good knowledge base.
Some of you are just plain Crazzy, I think CFA is a good qualification coupled with good experience, I have done CFA, took me 4 years because of work commitments, I dont regrett a bit, soon after I was promoted, now Im making crazzy bucks in Asia, So my point is while experience is good, why delay the personal growth impetus by doing the CFA, Ive made millions and I believe CFA was a stepping stone to where I am, To those doing CFA keep doing it, it may come in handy especially couple with a good experience
Dear eFinancial, I am in two minds whether to do the CFA or an MBA. Would it be possible for you to write an article on this topic, maybe followed by a discussion forum? I have tried to do a search on your site under “CFA” and “MBA” but did’nt find any results. Thanks.
it’s ridiculous, I am finishing CIMA in May 09 I am doing CFA out of mu own willingness and ambition paying for all myself and I wonder why other people are so lucky that they are told by the employers what they should do, which programm they should enroll into, they pay for their studies and wait patiently until they at last complete the programm and yet moreover I have more problems in finding interesting job then them.I don’t understand what it’s all about….
who cares about money anyway?
working in asia (HK) where people prize qualifications i have seen firsthand how utterly irrelevant MBAs and CFAs can actually be.
i work side by side with people junior to me who I would never imagine held some of these high level qualifications – until i see it slapped on the end of their email signature. They demonstrate no ability to apply whatever knowledge they have learned and it has not helped them advance in any significant way. it has almost become a farcical arms race where even the pas have an MBA tucked under their belts.
The only winners are the financial training firms who churn through the syllabus month in, month out in packed auditoriums creaming a hefty profit from their students, teaching them by wrote as quickly as possible. Cynical? i have completed a number of professional qualifications since i entered the industry ten years ago but i know feel that studying something – anything – non industry related would be more beneficial and personally rewarding.
seriously though – good luck with those CFA exams….
obviously all those who feel CFA takes less than 4 years either are not up to date about their facts… 4 years min work experience is needed before you can become a CFA charterholder.
As for the exam itself, I feel its a pretty rigorous syllabus but not insurmountable. Also, I thought the article was quite useful, especially for those who are enrolled on the program
This article is illuminating. Not because of the content, but because of the reader comments. It shows the mood in the City, which has definitely become more negative. It is fairly common now to see comments suggesting if another person does not agree with the comment, they are probably next in line to be fired. Interesting strategy, unnerve the competition…
Easiest set of exams I ever sat, slightly harder than media study GCSE! crammed it all in 6weeks before each exam. Overhyped qualification, size of charter inversely proportional to difficulty.
worthwhile on buy side but ignored on sell side.
ethics section is very key to designation’s status.
separtes men from boys. MBA is just another commodity.
How much paid for CFA Advertisement ????
I appreciate being associated with the CFA.
But in my opinion, CFA is a type of financial certification poker !!!!
If you take CFA exam and fail it, oooooh ! you lose most of your payment and you can not resit.
Rather you have to register again for another chance.
My suggestion to any would be candidate is that, if you don’t have huge sum of money, stay away from CFA and just dream about it.
It is so hyped. Pls stop it. I won’t hire those people purely because it value destroying
Pointless arguement. Those who dont have the qualification, shun it. Those who do have it, praise it. I personally believe the more knowledge you have the better. i respect those who get the charter cos it takes a lot of sacrifice, but then again life is sometimes more bout who u know, not what u know. might be better spending weekends at the pub with clients than with your books. who knows!! The first fact we must accept is that we dont fully understand everything.
could anyone explain what makes getting CFA qualification so hard (judging from the pass rate)? Is it simply because there’s quite a lot of material to go through and not much time to do it as you’d normally working very long hours at work or is it mainly because material is boring, unintuitive, and impractical, so you’d end up memorizing lots of stuff (which is never easy)? thanks a lot.